Tessa Shepperson Newsround #157

Here we are with another Friday Newsround taking a look at any relevant news items.

New Planning Rules

Planning is not a topic we cover much on Landlord Law but I ought to mention the new proposed planning law changes which are attracting a lot of criticism.

For example, a post on Property Industry Eye says that the changes are not all that they seem and certainly not ‘the most radical reforms to our planning system since the Second World War’.  As ‘a whole raft of conditions that will make the impact of any changes extremely limited’.

There are also fears that the new rules would diminish the amount of affordable housing to be built.  The Guardian reports that:

Details revealed included a measure to exempt developers of smaller sites from payments to local infrastructure such as affordable housing and schools. The fees, called Section 106 payments, are often a condition for permission being granted but the proposals envisage temporarily lifting a “small sites threshold”, below which developers will not need to contribute to affordable housing, to up to 40 or 50 units.

A new national levy would replace the system of developer contributions and be charged according to the final development value of the project …

But the National Housing Federation called for clarity on what would replace the Section 106 agreements, which last year delivered almost 28,000 affordable homes, about half of the total. Kate Henderson, the chief executive, questioned how a replacement national levy would enable the “levelling up” of communities.

Elsewhere there have been fears expressed that the new rules could create a generation of slums.

Green Homes Grant scheme

New details have been published on how this will work which says:

• Government urges tradespeople to sign up for TrustMark accreditation in drive to support over 100,000 jobs through a new energy efficiency scheme
• new Green Homes Grant will give over 600,000 homeowners in England up to £10,000 to install insulation, heat pumps, draft proofing and more to help households cut energy bills
• strict accreditation rules for tradespeople involved in the scheme, giving households confidence that improvements to their homes will be of the highest quality

Going on to say:

The Green Homes Grants will give homeowners, including owner occupiers and social/private landlords, vouchers to install one or more of the following:

• solid wall, under-floor, cavity wall or roof insulation
• air source or ground source heat pump
• solar thermal

In addition, households can use their voucher for further energy saving measures. These include one or more of the following:

• double or triple glazing/secondary glazing, when replacing single glazing
• upgrading to energy efficient doors
• hot water tank/appliance tank thermostats/heating controls

Application will be via the Simple Energy Advice (SEA) service which will suggest appropriate home improvements that homeowners may be able to apply for support in funding.

Paying tenants to conduct viewings?

In these COVID days tenants are understandably fearful if allowing viewings in their properties.  However, one agency has overcome this problem by paying them a week’s rent if they organise a successful viewing and a new tenant subsequently moves in.

The company explained:

Outgoing tenants aren’t usually thinking about new tenants coming in, so properties often look messy when it comes to property photos and viewings,” says founder Stepan Dobrovolskiy (left).

By using our free tenant team-up we incentivise outgoing tenants to present a clean and tidy property. They’re also the best people to speak to, to get an honest opinion about the property, which new tenants appreciate.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Snippets

• Shared house demand surges as students scramble for ‘safer’ homes
• NRLA partners with Scottish Association of Landlords
• Bury Council targets rogue landlords
• City dwellers head for the villages
• A national register of rental homes would help stop ‘landlord tax dodging’
• Benefits cap has hit 150,000 renters, DWP figures reveal
• Private rental sector enforcement needs ‘major reform’ says expert panel

Newsround will be back next week.